Psystar Open Computer is a controversial concept , that aims at running Leopard OS X Operating system on non-Apple hardware which “might” be against the ToS of Apple.  The company aims at providing a cheap alternative to Apple systems which are overpriced and give users an oppurtunity to try out proprietary Apple OS ie. OS X.

The Psystar Open Computer is priced at $740 is even cheaper than cheapest Mac Mini. Here are its specifications :

• CPU : Intel Core2Duo E4500 2.2 GHz
• Memory : 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• Hard Disk : 250GB, 7200 rpm
• Graphics : 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS
• Optical Drive : Dual Layer DVD Burner
• OS : Apple Leopard OS X 10.5
• Approx. price : $740

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I am here to answer a couple of queries from we have had on our Ask-Us page that gives you the liberty to ask all your hardware related queries and get their solutions right here on this blog.

The first query is by John :

Hi,

I bought 2 500gb hd for my NAS 200. Because of its slow speeds, i decided it was best to put them back in my main tower. However to my sad surprise, windows would not recognize them. I recalled that the NAS took the liberty to format my hdd to an unreadable format.

Is there a way to format them back to ntfs form? or ideally access them whilist in my pc?

Thanks

John

Yes you can easily format the hard disk back to NTFS/FAT32 partition. As you are using windows just go Disk Management which is there is Right Click My Computer>Manage and in the left pane you will find the Disk Management option.

In the bottom pane you will find all you external drives listed there if they are installed properly and are getting detected by BIOS.

You will also see the unrecognized partitions when you click on the NAS Hard Disk. You can then format them to the desired format by right clicking on the partition and selecting format.

If by chance, that does not work, you can download the GParted Live CD which is especially made for this purpose and you can boot into the Live CD and format the Hard Disk to the desired format. Continue reading ‘NAS Hard Disk,Wireless Router Queries’

Portability is rapidly becoming the need of the hour as we switch between office and home and other places, we need to have access to all our important documents,bookmarks and other stuff we use often.

Linux has come to the rescue by offering small linux distros which can easily fit into pen drives even as small as 64MB!

Damn Small Linux , the linux distro that is preferred by most due to small size and high functionality is what I will guide you through on how to install in on a pen drive.

Here are a few requirements that you need to have during the tutorial:

• A 64MB or larger Pen Drive
• Extracting Utility like WinRar
• DSL zip files
• syslinux
• HP-USB Format Tool (optional)

Tutorial on how to install Damn Small Linux(DSL) on a Pen Drive :

Step 1 : Format the USB Pen Drive

You need to format the pen drive in FAT or FAT32 format to install DSL on it. You can use the inbuilt utility in windows to format or you use download the HP-USB format utility for the same purpose.

Step 2 : Download DSL and extract it to pen drive

You need to download the DSL file to your PC. The file is in zip format and can be downloaded from here. You can either use one of the FTP mirrors or download the torrent. The file size of this file is 49MB. After downloading the zip file, you need to unzip the contents of the zip file to your pen drive. You can can any extracting utility like WinRar for this purpose.

Continue reading ‘Installing Linux On Pen Drive’

Apple Cinema Displays are brilliantly designed HD Display LCD monitors. The Cinema Display is priced exhorbitantly but its sleek design and its beauty will force you to shell out the mega bucks to own it! It does not have too many features to blow you over, but it has its own charm that each and every product of Apple has.

Apple Cinema Display 23-inch specifications :

• Dimensions: 21.1″ x 7.4″ x 17.7″
• Screen size : 23″ Widescreen
• Resolution : 1920 x 1200
• Response time : 14ms
• Input : DVI-I
• Approx. price : $850

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Firmware is an integral part of any phone and is responsible for the interaction between you and the hardware. Keeping your mobile firmware updated is very important as new firmware upgrades bring in new features to your cell phone and also iron out bugs that existed in the previous versions. Also they improve speed and performance of your phone.

Nokia, the leading cell phone manufacturer company, a couple of years back introduced the Nokia Software Updater software that lets you update your mobile firmware from your PC itself. Earlier you had to take your phone to the service station to get the job done.

So lets begin by looking at the various steps involved in updating the firmware of your mobile phone :

Step 1 : Download and install Nokia PC Suite and Nokia Software Updater

You first need to download the latest versions of Nokia PC Suite and Nokia Software Updater from Nokia’s official website. After downloading them, install both the software on your PC. Nokia PC Suite will be used to backing up and restoring the data of your phone and Nokia Software Updater will flash the firmware of your phone.

Continue reading ‘How To Upgrade Firmware Of Mobiles’

Ever thought that you could use your mobile camera also as your computer webcam? It is easier than setting up a standalone webcam on your PC. All it requires is installing a software on your mobile and on your PC! But this works only for Symbian mobile phone , Windows Mobile phones and RIM Blackberry.

There are quite a few softwares that do the job but I will talk about only one here that does the job quite efficiently.

The software I am talking about is Mobiola Webcam, which is not a freeware but can be purchased for $20. So is it worth spending the extra bucks on it? According to me yes and no. If you already own a webcam then there is little reason for you to purchase this. But if you don’t own one then it a great way to add webcam functionality to your PC. Also it ensures that you can use enable any PC with webcam functionality by just installing the software on the PC.

Continue reading ‘Use Your Mobile Camera As A Webcam’

Ever wanted to own a Lamborghini? Asus has fulfilled your wish by introducing it for just $3000 odd dollars! Jokes apart, Lamborghini is the latest invention the Asus’ labs. The laptop has been designed specially to look similar to the famous sports car. The laptop comes in both yellow and black colors.

Asus Lamborghini VX3-A1 specifications :

• Dimensions : 12″ x 8.7″ x 1.2″
• Processor : 2.5 GHz Intel Core2 Duo
• Display : 12.1″ TFT with 1280 x 800 resolution
• RAM : 4GB DDR II SDRAM 667 MHz
• Hard Disk : 320GB SATA-150 5400 rpm
• Optical Storage : DVD Writer
• Graphics : Nvidia GeForce 9300M G 256MB
• Webcam : 0.3 Megapixel
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
• Approx : $3100

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Slim is in! That has been the motto nokia has been following for its XpressMusic series. The cell phones released under this series are extremely thin and at the same time deliver great performance at a low price. Nokia 5310 is on the low priced models in this series and is complete value for money.

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic specifications :

• Dimensions : 103.8 x 44.7 x 9.9 mm
• Weight : 71g
• Display : 31.5 x 41.5 mm TFT with 240 x 320 resolution
• GPRS,EDGE,HSCSD
• Bluetooth, microUSB
• 2 MP Camera with
• Stereo FM with RDS
• 3.5 mm AV jack
• Approx. price : $270

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We have two more questions on the Ask-Us page.

The first query is by Jalal Singh :

Sir,
My USB Front panel port produce more power so thats affect to damage my pendrive. How I can solve this…… Please tel me…….. Thank U….

First of all, make sure that you are actually receiving more power as this is a very rare case. After you have made sure that this is the problem then you need to check the cause for it. As you have mentioned that the front USB ports are causing this problem then most probably you do not have certified USB ports.

There are many cheap front USB panels available in the market which come fitted in low end cabinets, which do not care about quality. This could be the problem in your case too. So change the USB front panel with a certified one and check again for the problem.

Continue reading ‘USB Port Power and Basic PC Configuration Query’

Everyone loves to go wireless! But it is frustrating to find that not every nook and corner of your house/workplace gets the signal. Here are a few tips that will help you solve this problem.

Tip 1 : Base station placement is crucial.

This is perhaps one of the most basic areas where most of us go wrong. We tend to place the base station at any convenient place without looking at parameters that affect its performance. Here a few points to keep in mind before placing the base station :

• When the signal has to cover multiple floors, then the best place to place the router is at the top most floor as signal travels faster downwards rather than other way round.
• Do not place near thick walls or any metal surfaces. This reduces signal penetration, which causes low signals. Place the base station in an open space so as to cause least interference.
• Keep away from other devices which operate at same frequency . Most Wi-Fi routers operate at 2.4 GHz frequency which is also the frequency of cordless phones and microwave ovens. Another workaround for this could be to select a router which has a different operating frequency than these.

Continue reading ‘How to boost Wi-Fi performance’